34 Weeks of Clean! Week 19- Bedrooms 1 & 2

Back to the bedroom.  So here's the deal.  For the next two assignments you are getting an advance notice. We will spend TWO weeks, this one included, on bedrooms. (The Master Bedroom was done in week 15 if you need to catch up!)  Children's, guest, whatever.  Therefore, if you have more than 2 bedrooms left you will need to pair some up.  In our case, you will see the two boys' rooms together and then a week for our girls.  No guest room in this house, but you divide as you see fit.  The basics will be the same!

The Basics- 

• Strip the beds and wash ALL of the linens.  Replace any torn or stained sheets or such.

This is what happens when you strip the linens and the dog finds them before they make it to the washing machine!

• Take everything off all flat surfaces and move it out!  Some children are not naturally neat people!  So thankful that only one of my kiddos is still in this stage!  And yes, we moved all of this stuff out and started over.

• Dust all surfaces, sides and all!

• While stuff is still off, move furniture away from walls so you can wipes down baseboards and vacuum around all edges.

• Replace furniture or rearrange while you have the chance! ;)  See a trend here?  I am the queen of changing furniture around.

After of same bedroom.  Rearranged and cleaner.  For the moment, at least!  Yes, the Christmas lights stayed up for a while longer.  Don't ask!

• Put things back, but try to eliminate half.  Remember, we are on a quest to declutter as well as clean.  Does your child need it?  Do they use it?  Could someone else get better use of it? Make a pile and move it out! See notes at the bottom!

• Time to tackle the drawers.  Again, take it ALL out, decide what you need to keep and then put only those things back neatly.  Now is a good time to get rid of clothes that are too small, not in good shape, or your child hates. Now, teach your children how to keep it clean.  Even a young child can be taught to put things away neatly.

This is what you look like when your sister is helping you purge!

           -My best tip for you here- fold t-shirts in thirds and then put in the drawers.  We have found it is much easier for a child to see the shirt they want without making a mess of a stack of them, and you can fit many more in!

• Wipe down light switches, door knobs, and door frames, inside and out.  Look up, again, and clean off ceiling fans and light fixtures. 

• Clean window frames and windows.  Once again, mini blinds and curtains are on the list.  Sorry!

• Vacuum the floor and you are done.  Mostly!

A few notes about toys.

   -Stop buying them!  We have a pretty strict rule about no buying toys unless it is birthday or Christmas.  Best thing we ever did.  Of course, when a child has saved up their own money we make exceptions, but we want our children to learn early that just because we WANT something does not mean we NEED it.  Ok, yes, we do break the rules for an occasional special treat, but I mean special and oh did I say, small!?  Happiness is not built on toys alone and it is time kids today were taught that.

   -Stick to a few themes.  Our children do not need one of everything.  Really, they don't.  Pick a few things they like and stick with them.  The themes around here tend to be Legos, army men, Playmobile and Lincoln logs.  Find what your child likes and plays with, and don't get carried away.  In my experience, it is parents that get caught up in collections, not kids.  Let's don't teach them our bad habits!

   -Containerize and rotate toys.  Trust me, it helps and it works.  I did another decluttering post a while back that shows one way to containerize easily you can check out.  We tend to use baskets and when the kids were really little we rotated those baskets in and out every few weeks, a few at a time.  You would be surprised at how excited they get about toys they haven't seen in a few weeks.

Even coloring supplies can be kept together!

- Special items!  Yes, even my kids like to hang on to things, despite my natural tendency to dump stuff in the trash.  You know, important things like rocks, paperclips, old art projects.  There are two ways we have helped with that problem.  One - a small plastic tackle box. The rule is if you can fit it in there, it can stay.  If not, something else has to go.  And two - a simple folder with pockets. If there are papers you just cannot let go of, put them in your folder.  Again, if there is no more room, it is time to weed out what you do not want anymore.

Let's face it, every child's room is going to be a little different.  I would love for my boys' rooms to look like the ones in the Pottery Barn catalog.  I would REALLY like that.  But for now that is not reality for us, OK, that is probably NEVER going to be reality for us.  So we do our best. When we have lived in houses that have playspace areas we tried to make bedrooms just a place to sleep.  I love that!  But that does not always happen.  Certainly not in the house we are in currently.  So sleep and play must co-exist.  And sanity must reign, so I try to make it as easy as I can for them to maintain a reasonably clean room and ignore accept the rest.

Clean up, declutter, and embrace the space you have!

So, about that Half Time week, How'd you do?  What area did you catch up on?  I can't wait to see!  Keep those pictures and links coming- the drawing basket is getting full!

Week 18- Half-time

Week 20- The Bedrooms 3+

An InLinkz Link-up

Blessings,